We deserve candidates much better than Biden and Trump. Sadly, the fringes have hijacked both parties and the middle seems to be going along to get along. However, there’s no arguing that, for all his failures & narcissistic ranting, Trump (or his people) knew enough to sanction Iran, shepherd the Abraham Accords without placating the Palestinians, and marginalize corrupt world organizations.
We deserve candidates in the middle that actually represent 80% of the people with common sense policies. Our system is broken and needs to be reformed. Sadly, not all civilizations last forever for a reason.
During Trump's first term, MSM aired one expert (I use that term loosely) after another on how Trump was going to get us into WWIII, yet the very opposite actually occurred. Not only did Trump not start WWIII, he managed with his very limited foreign policy experience to not get the US involved in any new conflicts. Biden's foreign policy is nothing more then a rinse and repeat of Obama's and it seems as if we are closer then we have ever been to getting pulled into a war with another nuclear superpower. Not only have we supplied Urkaine with over $171B in aide, it was recently disclosed that Zelenskyy has been given the green light to launch weaponry supplied to them by us, into Russia. Russia is understandingly responding by sending warships to Cuba in return. How the hell do these Washington warmongers think this is all going to end? I personally do not believe that Trump or the republican party is pro-Putin plus Trump has repeatedly said that he wants the killing to stop. I would not particularly care to have Trump as a dinner guest, but based on his record of 0 new wars, his promises that were made and kept to Israel, his attempts to help secure our borders, his support of our military, etc., I could definitely tolerate having him for a 2nd term president.
I appreciate your perspective, thanks for sharing it with everyone. I think both sides have become zealots and our politics have become about hating the other candidate more so then who do you WANT to vote for. This is a sad state of affairs. Not sure how we turn the ship around.
Same. The Tucker Carlson contingent is very concerning to me. My hope is that if trump were to win he’d reassert control on the world stage and scare our enemies. But if he finds it more expedient to just pull away from the world then we’re really in trouble.
I always suspected that Tucker Carlson was a Paleocon. I noticed during his time on Fox he never mentioned Israel, even during the occasional wars with Hamas and I always felt that it’s because he realized that the overwhelming majority of Fox viewers were very pro Israel. Now that he’s no on fox his inner Pay Buchanan could be released.
My understanding is he was at one time a good reporter and a smart guy. I never watched much of his work but clearly now something has happened to him because he’s gone off the deep end. It’s alarming how many people continue to watch his nonsense.
Another putrid commentator who calls herself conservative is Candace Owens. She’s also into conspiracy theories, says that Macron’s wife was born a man, believes the moon walk was fake. and her latest one was when she called Leo Frank a pedophile, and actually believes that he murdered that girl instead of Jim Conley, whom every historian and criminologist says was the real murderer.
You are correct. He actually was a good commentator and he kind of reminded me of a younger version of George Will and not just because he also wore a bowtie. But something in him changed and changed for the worst.
I voted Republican for the first time in 2008, when I read Barack Obama was close friends with Rashid Khalidi, an extremist Palestinian who left the PLO over the Oslo Accords (and teaches at Columbia, naturally).
Never went back and voted in 2016 and 2020 for the only US Presidential candidate with Jewish grandchildren.
A Democrat victory in 2024 will vindicate the idea that their pro-Hamas wing is an asset. That is the greatest danger.
There are only two realistic candidates in 2024: Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. If you don't vote for Trump, you've voted for Kamala. Take a deep breath and reflect on what that means for Israel, for America's Jews, for the United States and for Western values.
When people try to tell me Kamala will be fine because she has a Jewish husband, it makes me cringe. I just hit them with Trump will be fine because his daughter is married to Kushner, that usually shuts them up pretty quick.
Not only does Kamala Harris have a Jewish husband but his daughter, Ella Emhoff is actively raising money for Gaza and UNRWA even after the Hamas data center was discovered under its headquarters.
Jokes aside, I think it's about fear. They want to be accepted by their "friends" who all hate Jews, so they think if they join in and weaponize their Jewishness against us, it will make them popular with the cool kids.
They are the lowest of the low and infuriate me more then any other group on Earth. I think I would get along better with actual Hamas terrorists and be able to find more common ground then I would with most anti-Zionist Jews. A whole lot more to come on this in it's own editorial at some point in the future. Every time I sit down to write it the essay devolves into some pretty dark shit that I feel like would violate even Substacks fairly liberal content moderation policies.
Thank You so much for this. I went to bed for three days when Trump was elected in 2016. But the Biden administration has weakened and endangered us. I never dreamed I'd say this, but: MAGA.
I don't want to write off any group or person for voting for any party. Most people are motivated to vote in their own interest and I understand why people are following the incentives no matter who they are voting for. We have to figure out a way to stop hating each other, as I mentioned, the vast majority of people agree on most policies and not every issue is as partisan as we're led to believe.
I like this. RFK should be allowed to debate, but I've talked to tons of people who can't get past how his voice sounds. People get hung up on stupid crap unfortunately.
Since I live in a deep blue state, it doesn’t matter who I vote for but I voted Trump in 2020 even though I found Trump to be so uncouth and at times irrational, I wasn’t going to vote for anybody this election year in November but seeing how dangerous and incredibly stupid Joe Biden is I’m going to have to hold my nose and vote for Trump again although I’m sure if he wins the presidency, his second term will be just as chaotic as his first. I wish someone such as DeSantis, Tom Cotton, Glenn Youngkin, Tim Scott, or Niki Haley were the GOP nominees however the Democrats are the Hamas Party.
I'm pretty aligned with how you're thinking. No fan of Trump, but Biden makes my physically ill. We all wish we had better choices, but the choices are what they are. I prefer Israel's coalition system frankly, but obviously they have their own election chaos they are dealing with too.
Is that Dante's 7th or 8th layer of hell? Hopefully people in the middle will wake up and realize they have tremendous power if they organize and get involved in the political process.
There is no reason we need to allow radical fringes to elect all our political candidates. With innovations in blockchain and the possibility for secure real time voting, I think more direct forms of democracy should be experimented with.
Whenever gatekeepers are introduced in any process they introduce corruption, inefficiency, and suboptimal outcomes.
I am coming to a similar conclusion, which disturbs me greatly. I couldn’t have imagined a situation where I’d vote for trump a year ago and now it seems like it’s either vote for him or don’t vote at all, out of general disgust.
I hear you. I view voting for Kennedy as throwing my vote away, but I think it's important if you're thinking of not voting to write someone in, be part of the process. Let your voice be heard even if you can't vote for a candidate with a viable chance of winning.
I was originally planning not to vote for Trump or Biden/Harris but seeing how stupid she is, I will hold my nose and vote for Trump with all his stupid comments and all that I think he’s not an enemy of us. Harris has no feelings for Jews or Judaism or Israel. The Democratic Party is the party now of what the Labor Party was on the Jeremy Corbiyn.
To throw your vote away in 2024, when a significant wing of the Democratic Party is openly anti-Semitic and Kamala Harris mourns all the Palestinians killed in the hostage rescue, is an act of suicidal lunacy.
You make a good point. Israel is not the only issue worth worrying about…but even still you can make a pretty good case that even trumps worst instincts would be better than the world the progressives are trying to build.
Hence the article. I am struggling. I've yet to make any firm decisions and I reserve the right to change my mind until the election as debates, world events, etc happen!
I suspect we will start to see a shift and more Jews will be independents who will be discerning about whom they vote for. That's my hope at least. Antisemitism on the Left has become mainstream and it is a problem.
I say this with the utmost respect, you Americans are so fucked.
I Dont envy the choice before you.
All I can do is wish you the best, there is no easy decision to be made for the Jewish Community in the US. And that holds true for your fellow Americans of all stripes.
Four And a Half months to go.
Be Strong Jason Be Strong, for you, your family, for America.
I don’t think either of the current candidates have any interest or ability to defang this wave of antisemitism or care enough about the country to support our allies.
At no time should anyone ever vote for the orange turd. He is an embarrassment of historical proportions. Even a broken clock is right twice a day, so let's acknowledge the Abraham Accords as such, which most will tell you was already happening behind the scenes with many of the moderate Arab countries before Jared started whoring for dollars. At least with Grandpa Biden we have someone who ranks above Kelvin zero on the humanity scale, and whose policies, however abhorrent you might find them, have not led the country to a resurrection. Hold your nose and vote for Grandpa Biden.
I respect your opinion Brad, but I am not sure anymore. Biden is not in control of his own party, so we don't really know who will actually be governing and what they believe. I'll take the enemy I know over the mystery box I think.
Same here Jason, respect your opinion as well, and enjoy Maccabee Nation. I am obviously a never Trumper, but even if I were not, and I was singularly focused on Israel, I would still pull for Grandpa. Biden has surrounded himself with smart Jews, and I don't buy into the cabal/conspiracy stuff I read too much of on The Tablet and other normally reliable sources. Pay no attention to the rhetoric, and follow the weapons. That is the best way to cut through the bullshit. When Grandpa starts pulling arms support, then I may start to worry.
I understand, but I think that the likelihood he doesn't make it another 4 years means we won't know what the beliefs and values of who will actually govern are. We do however know that a huge swath of his party is anti-Israel, and frankly anti-Jewish. They will continue to gain more influence as his health erodes.
Not a chance I am willing to take. I will never forget what's been going on the last 8 months and today. It is seared into my memory forever. If Trump is saying he will deport people waving Hamas flags and stop importing them with no process, then maybe there's hope for us yet.
Again, I wish I didn't have to vote for either, but here we are.
The White House still has the Obama era staffers. Obama was an anti-Semite, no question. Biden will watch Israel burn if it means winning Dearborn. That orange turd you refer to ran the most peaceful world we have seen since Reagen ended the Cold War.
I agree with most of what you’re saying. We didn’t delve into Trumps shortcomings, but the last few interviews I’ve hear with him in past 30 days, I have liked what I’ve heard.
We deserve candidates much better than Biden and Trump. Sadly, the fringes have hijacked both parties and the middle seems to be going along to get along. However, there’s no arguing that, for all his failures & narcissistic ranting, Trump (or his people) knew enough to sanction Iran, shepherd the Abraham Accords without placating the Palestinians, and marginalize corrupt world organizations.
Rotten choices but one of them is a non-starter.
We deserve candidates in the middle that actually represent 80% of the people with common sense policies. Our system is broken and needs to be reformed. Sadly, not all civilizations last forever for a reason.
The one thing I worry about the Republican Party is that there’s an increasingly isolationist pro-Putin wing to them.
It's a concern for me too.
During Trump's first term, MSM aired one expert (I use that term loosely) after another on how Trump was going to get us into WWIII, yet the very opposite actually occurred. Not only did Trump not start WWIII, he managed with his very limited foreign policy experience to not get the US involved in any new conflicts. Biden's foreign policy is nothing more then a rinse and repeat of Obama's and it seems as if we are closer then we have ever been to getting pulled into a war with another nuclear superpower. Not only have we supplied Urkaine with over $171B in aide, it was recently disclosed that Zelenskyy has been given the green light to launch weaponry supplied to them by us, into Russia. Russia is understandingly responding by sending warships to Cuba in return. How the hell do these Washington warmongers think this is all going to end? I personally do not believe that Trump or the republican party is pro-Putin plus Trump has repeatedly said that he wants the killing to stop. I would not particularly care to have Trump as a dinner guest, but based on his record of 0 new wars, his promises that were made and kept to Israel, his attempts to help secure our borders, his support of our military, etc., I could definitely tolerate having him for a 2nd term president.
I appreciate your perspective, thanks for sharing it with everyone. I think both sides have become zealots and our politics have become about hating the other candidate more so then who do you WANT to vote for. This is a sad state of affairs. Not sure how we turn the ship around.
Same. The Tucker Carlson contingent is very concerning to me. My hope is that if trump were to win he’d reassert control on the world stage and scare our enemies. But if he finds it more expedient to just pull away from the world then we’re really in trouble.
I always suspected that Tucker Carlson was a Paleocon. I noticed during his time on Fox he never mentioned Israel, even during the occasional wars with Hamas and I always felt that it’s because he realized that the overwhelming majority of Fox viewers were very pro Israel. Now that he’s no on fox his inner Pay Buchanan could be released.
My understanding is he was at one time a good reporter and a smart guy. I never watched much of his work but clearly now something has happened to him because he’s gone off the deep end. It’s alarming how many people continue to watch his nonsense.
Another putrid commentator who calls herself conservative is Candace Owens. She’s also into conspiracy theories, says that Macron’s wife was born a man, believes the moon walk was fake. and her latest one was when she called Leo Frank a pedophile, and actually believes that he murdered that girl instead of Jim Conley, whom every historian and criminologist says was the real murderer.
You are correct. He actually was a good commentator and he kind of reminded me of a younger version of George Will and not just because he also wore a bowtie. But something in him changed and changed for the worst.
Correct
Interesting...
I voted Republican for the first time in 2008, when I read Barack Obama was close friends with Rashid Khalidi, an extremist Palestinian who left the PLO over the Oslo Accords (and teaches at Columbia, naturally).
Never went back and voted in 2016 and 2020 for the only US Presidential candidate with Jewish grandchildren.
A Democrat victory in 2024 will vindicate the idea that their pro-Hamas wing is an asset. That is the greatest danger.
There are only two realistic candidates in 2024: Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. If you don't vote for Trump, you've voted for Kamala. Take a deep breath and reflect on what that means for Israel, for America's Jews, for the United States and for Western values.
Counting on your vote and your voice, Jason!
https://www.city-journal.org/article/are-american-jews-moving-right
When people try to tell me Kamala will be fine because she has a Jewish husband, it makes me cringe. I just hit them with Trump will be fine because his daughter is married to Kushner, that usually shuts them up pretty quick.
Not only does Kamala Harris have a Jewish husband but his daughter, Ella Emhoff is actively raising money for Gaza and UNRWA even after the Hamas data center was discovered under its headquarters.
https://forward.com/fast-forward/593600/ella-emhoff-harris-unrwa-gaza/
Bet you don't see that in Trump's kids and grandkids.
Why any Jew would support Hamas is something that only psychiatrist can answer.
Or go to the source and ask Bernie himself.
Jokes aside, I think it's about fear. They want to be accepted by their "friends" who all hate Jews, so they think if they join in and weaponize their Jewishness against us, it will make them popular with the cool kids.
They are the lowest of the low and infuriate me more then any other group on Earth. I think I would get along better with actual Hamas terrorists and be able to find more common ground then I would with most anti-Zionist Jews. A whole lot more to come on this in it's own editorial at some point in the future. Every time I sit down to write it the essay devolves into some pretty dark shit that I feel like would violate even Substacks fairly liberal content moderation policies.
Great article today by Joshua Hoffman on his substack about the psychology of anti-Jewish Jews
http://futureofjewish.com/p/the-strange-psychology-of-self-hating-jews
Not surprisingly, you can do worse than Bernie Sanders, Rabbi Jill Jacobs and her anti-Israel organization Truah:
https://truah.org/people/rabbi-jill-jacobs/
They run a great newsletter, highly recommend. Thanks for sharing.
Thank You so much for this. I went to bed for three days when Trump was elected in 2016. But the Biden administration has weakened and endangered us. I never dreamed I'd say this, but: MAGA.
It's surreal. Life is stranger then fiction.
I’ve already decided that I will not vote for Biden, or whoever winds up being the Democrat candidate. The party of JFK has become the party of Hamas.
If this means I’ll be voting for Trump, so be it. At least he supports Israel and the Jewish people.
Thank you for sharing your feedback.
Don’t know how any woman, Jew, white person, American or taxpayer can vote Democrat
I don't want to write off any group or person for voting for any party. Most people are motivated to vote in their own interest and I understand why people are following the incentives no matter who they are voting for. We have to figure out a way to stop hating each other, as I mentioned, the vast majority of people agree on most policies and not every issue is as partisan as we're led to believe.
Unfortunately, people vote for a political party often times out of habit.
Policy not personality!!
I like this. RFK should be allowed to debate, but I've talked to tons of people who can't get past how his voice sounds. People get hung up on stupid crap unfortunately.
Since I live in a deep blue state, it doesn’t matter who I vote for but I voted Trump in 2020 even though I found Trump to be so uncouth and at times irrational, I wasn’t going to vote for anybody this election year in November but seeing how dangerous and incredibly stupid Joe Biden is I’m going to have to hold my nose and vote for Trump again although I’m sure if he wins the presidency, his second term will be just as chaotic as his first. I wish someone such as DeSantis, Tom Cotton, Glenn Youngkin, Tim Scott, or Niki Haley were the GOP nominees however the Democrats are the Hamas Party.
I'm pretty aligned with how you're thinking. No fan of Trump, but Biden makes my physically ill. We all wish we had better choices, but the choices are what they are. I prefer Israel's coalition system frankly, but obviously they have their own election chaos they are dealing with too.
I decided that purgatory is Biden versus Trump running for president over and over and over again against each other on loop for infinity.
Just decaying octogenarians the vast majority of the American public doesn't like putting us through this.
Is that Dante's 7th or 8th layer of hell? Hopefully people in the middle will wake up and realize they have tremendous power if they organize and get involved in the political process.
There is no reason we need to allow radical fringes to elect all our political candidates. With innovations in blockchain and the possibility for secure real time voting, I think more direct forms of democracy should be experimented with.
Whenever gatekeepers are introduced in any process they introduce corruption, inefficiency, and suboptimal outcomes.
I am coming to a similar conclusion, which disturbs me greatly. I couldn’t have imagined a situation where I’d vote for trump a year ago and now it seems like it’s either vote for him or don’t vote at all, out of general disgust.
I hear you. I view voting for Kennedy as throwing my vote away, but I think it's important if you're thinking of not voting to write someone in, be part of the process. Let your voice be heard even if you can't vote for a candidate with a viable chance of winning.
I was originally planning not to vote for Trump or Biden/Harris but seeing how stupid she is, I will hold my nose and vote for Trump with all his stupid comments and all that I think he’s not an enemy of us. Harris has no feelings for Jews or Judaism or Israel. The Democratic Party is the party now of what the Labor Party was on the Jeremy Corbiyn.
To throw your vote away in 2024, when a significant wing of the Democratic Party is openly anti-Semitic and Kamala Harris mourns all the Palestinians killed in the hostage rescue, is an act of suicidal lunacy.
You make a good point. Israel is not the only issue worth worrying about…but even still you can make a pretty good case that even trumps worst instincts would be better than the world the progressives are trying to build.
Hence the article. I am struggling. I've yet to make any firm decisions and I reserve the right to change my mind until the election as debates, world events, etc happen!
Very well written. For me, in a binary choice, the choice is obvious.
Thanks David, I enjoy your poetry. Thank you for joining Maccabee Nation!
Thanks very much, Jason. Your site is superb.
A lot of us are struggling with this! Unthinkable years ago, but Oct 7 changed me forever.
You are not alone. I'm glad you found Maccabee Nation!
Never understood why Jews were Democrats.
I suspect we will start to see a shift and more Jews will be independents who will be discerning about whom they vote for. That's my hope at least. Antisemitism on the Left has become mainstream and it is a problem.
Heck yes. No way I am going vote for the second term of Team Biden
:)
Jason
I say this with the utmost respect, you Americans are so fucked.
I Dont envy the choice before you.
All I can do is wish you the best, there is no easy decision to be made for the Jewish Community in the US. And that holds true for your fellow Americans of all stripes.
Four And a Half months to go.
Be Strong Jason Be Strong, for you, your family, for America.
We've been through dark times before. Time marches on. Sometimes great things come from evil and darkness. Trying to remain optimistic.
Absolutely Trump is the word
I don’t think either of the current candidates have any interest or ability to defang this wave of antisemitism or care enough about the country to support our allies.
At no time should anyone ever vote for the orange turd. He is an embarrassment of historical proportions. Even a broken clock is right twice a day, so let's acknowledge the Abraham Accords as such, which most will tell you was already happening behind the scenes with many of the moderate Arab countries before Jared started whoring for dollars. At least with Grandpa Biden we have someone who ranks above Kelvin zero on the humanity scale, and whose policies, however abhorrent you might find them, have not led the country to a resurrection. Hold your nose and vote for Grandpa Biden.
I respect your opinion Brad, but I am not sure anymore. Biden is not in control of his own party, so we don't really know who will actually be governing and what they believe. I'll take the enemy I know over the mystery box I think.
Same here Jason, respect your opinion as well, and enjoy Maccabee Nation. I am obviously a never Trumper, but even if I were not, and I was singularly focused on Israel, I would still pull for Grandpa. Biden has surrounded himself with smart Jews, and I don't buy into the cabal/conspiracy stuff I read too much of on The Tablet and other normally reliable sources. Pay no attention to the rhetoric, and follow the weapons. That is the best way to cut through the bullshit. When Grandpa starts pulling arms support, then I may start to worry.
I understand, but I think that the likelihood he doesn't make it another 4 years means we won't know what the beliefs and values of who will actually govern are. We do however know that a huge swath of his party is anti-Israel, and frankly anti-Jewish. They will continue to gain more influence as his health erodes.
Not a chance I am willing to take. I will never forget what's been going on the last 8 months and today. It is seared into my memory forever. If Trump is saying he will deport people waving Hamas flags and stop importing them with no process, then maybe there's hope for us yet.
Again, I wish I didn't have to vote for either, but here we are.
The White House still has the Obama era staffers. Obama was an anti-Semite, no question. Biden will watch Israel burn if it means winning Dearborn. That orange turd you refer to ran the most peaceful world we have seen since Reagen ended the Cold War.
"When Grandpa starts pulling arms support, then I may start to worry"
Start to worry: Biden stopped the supply of 2,000lb aerial bombs, useful for Lebanon's mountain areas, in May.
Biden Administration has been rumored to be slowing weapons transfers, without outright stopping them, since January.
https://www.jns.org/military-aid-unconditional-but-us-can-delay-deliveries/
Oh really? Biden’s record so far:
– Capitulation to Taliban, leaving thousands of US allies behind
– Capitulation to Iran, by restarting negotiations and sending money
– Failure to deter Russia in its full scale aggression against Ukraine
– Capitulation to Russia by not enforcing sanction and failing to provide adequate military aid to Ukraine
– Failure to deter Iranian ring of file from attacking Israel
– Capitulation to Houthis by letting them interfere with 30% of Maritime traffic
– Capitulation to pro-Hamas lobby in the U.S. and globally.
Now add illegal immigration and fluctuating inflation that is ongoing and reflect that we still have the rest of 2024!
I agree with most of what you’re saying. We didn’t delve into Trumps shortcomings, but the last few interviews I’ve hear with him in past 30 days, I have liked what I’ve heard.